Murders of women rise 65 pct in Honduras

Murders of women increased 65 percent between 2010 and 2013 in Honduras and 95 percent of those crimes have gone unpunished, feminist organizations here said in the runup to International Woman's Day.

Gilda Rivera, with the Women's Rights Center, told Efe that 2,139 women were murdered during the period.

Rivera was one of those who attended the presentation of the study discussing the rising rate of female homicides and she was joined by representatives of the National Union of Guatemalan Woman and the Salvadoran Women's Organization.

Guatemalan Norma Herrero told Efe that in Honduras, as in Guatemala, violence against women is the result of "the machismo culture and inequality."

Rivera said that the "amazing" rise in violent deaths among women in Honduras is due to the fact that "impunity prevails in the country" for such crimes.

The increase in femicide in Honduras shows that the country needs "more political will" to combat those murders, the director of the NGO Women's Studies Center, Suyapa Martinez, told Efe.

In the first two months of this year, 70 murders of women were registered in Honduras, a country where there are an average of 14 homicides per day. EFE